September 8

Doug didn't sleep well, getting spasms in his back. In the past doing stomach muscle exercises has corrected this. On the boat, there are constant stomach muscle exercises. After two months one wouldn't think it's the settee cushions we've been using for mattresses.

We wait until the tide change, then head on up to Rainier. Not a normal stop for us, but we need, of all things, cat food. And ice. We tie up, I take the hike. What used to be the grocery store is now a scratch and dent food store (at least they had cat food) about a mile north of the dock. Block ice is availabe at the filling station across the street. The nearest real grocery store, according to the pump jockey, would be in Longview. Hike back to the boat. There seems to some kind of fishing event going on, we've seen lots of boats anchored off the Washington side of the river fishing. Unfortunately, several of these recreational fishermen motor into Rainier at high speed, setting up wakes that made things very bouncy for Cindy and Squishy. Rather inconsiderate. We get under way, and are able to sail a good portion of the way to Martin Island. Several times we hear horn 5 blasts from freighters, which usually means “get out of my way”. We're pretty sure this was directed at the boats anchored in the shipping channel to fish.

We pull into Martin Island, drop hook, intent on spending a few days. Horses here now, in addition to cows. No one else in the pond, quiet except for the noise from I5. We scrub down and sluice down the decks. Unfortunatly, we sluice down the inside of the cabin, too, so have to get that dried out. It's cooled off a little, Doug saves swimming for tomorrow. A sailboat comes in, then goes out again. Odd. An inflatable rows in, lets the dog on shore for it's business, then rows out again. Also odd. At high tide, the first sailboat comes back in, along with another, larger sailboat, with the inflatable in tow. It takes the bigger boat some time to sound out the pond, then anchor and the little sailboat rafts up to them. The odd becomes clear now. The entrance to the pond in Martin Island is shallow, and big boat's owner is timid. They anchored out in the channel until high tide before coming in. The dog had to go, and there's really no landings outside of the pond (unless you know about the creek).

We move Doug to the quarter berth for the night, hoping more space might help with his back.

Back home, almost

Business issues, as well as back problems for Doug, sent us back to our slip in St Helens, and then on home. We still have after-cruise cleanup to finish on the boat, so we will be going back sometime this weekend.

September 7

A mellow day. The forecasted morning showers were very early morning showers. Mochas for breakfast (I broke my French Press a few days back), spend the morning getting the blog updated and dealing with other on-line stuff. We top off the water tank, I hose down the main anchor rode. Lots of dirt, we'll probably want to take it home after the trip and run it through the clothes washer. When we do get under way, a bunch of power boats were coming in. We hover (interesting in a sailboat the twists easily with the wind), then take off. The tide is out and rising, favorable for going up river, we take the "short cut" east through Cathlamet Channel. It's got shallow spots, our old sailing friend Ralph has provided detailed instructions for getting through, we have no problem. Back in the main river we are able to unfurl the headsail with wind from the west, this lasts for about half an hour when the wind suddenly shifts to from the northeast and becomes variable, like on, off, on, off. We work with this for a bit, then there is a freighter approaching from behind, so we fire up the motor, furl in the headsail, and motor the rest of the way to Walker Island. Set hook, salads for dinner, dishes, conversation, blog, sleep.

September 6

The inclement weather has pushed out to today, with strong winds forecasted for tonight. I’d left the auxiliary anchor rode in the cockpit, it got well rinsed with rain. One boat battery is down, our boat water is low, cell phone has been marginal, we need to get month end finances up to date (I overwrote the wrong file and we had to redo some stuff), I have some clients wanting attention over the Labor Day weekend, and we are wanting showers. We catch a break in the rain and motor over to Elochoman Slough Marina. It’s not a place we’d been to before; the entrance is tricky when you need 5 feet under you, even at high tide. Thanks to Uncle Ralph’s Guide, we get in with no problems. We get a slip with power away from the yacht clubs We get batteries charging, get showers, and walk to the town for a late lunch. Well, Cathlamet, WA doesn’t have much to offer. We get lunch (kind of heavy), then Cindy has the idea that hey, we’re in port, we could get a bag of salad fixings and Doug’s honey mustard dressing (on board, unused this trip), and have a perfectly reasonable dinner for two for $5. Duh. We should have thought of that several times over the past two months. We go to the local IGA, get salad, cucumber, a tomato, drinking water and cat food, so we’re good to go for the evening.

Back at the boat, we crack out the computers and get on business. Several rain showers blow over. One window is showing some leakage. I get the main anchor rode onto the boat deck to rinse out the salt in the rain. We look at the weather and tide tables, not sure we want to be here another night. Looks like warm weather later in the week, I’d like to be in Martin Island so I can go for a swim and scrape off any salt water growth off the bottom that needs it (I know the outboard does).

September 5

We got some rain over night, but not the “rain all morning” that was forecasted. Some wind, again, not bad. Looks like the predictions pushed out. We stay put, catching up on reading, and plotting the return up river. We're actually pleased with having “bad” weather over the Labor Day weekend, it tends to keep loud drunken idiot boaters off the river.

September 4

We motor out with the tide to go up river. No wind. A couple of large ships pass us on the way up river. Some times it’s a bummer to only be able to make 5.5 kts. We get to Clifton channel, of Tenasillahe Island, and drop hook. Doug has gotten a few business calls on the way up, and we discover the cell phone signal is a little dodgy. We move a couple hundred yards closer to Clatskanie, and seem to get a better signal. Doug finishes up work, we play a game of Aggravation until bed time. Came down to who rolled a 1 first.

September 3

Chance of rain increasing until 80% on Saturday. High winds forecasted for tomorrow night as a prelude to the storm. Mott Island is exposed to the winds, and while we’ve been through worse without a problem, we really don’t want to. The forecast up river is a bit calmer, and there are more sheltered anchorages. We decide to head up river tomorrow, to do that we need block ice and more cat food (Squishy’s taken to canned cat food ever since Doug opened a can for crabbing. She stopped eating the dry food, and we were concerned about her weight loss). Safeway doesn’t carry block any more, and we don’t wish to be subjected to the sea lions again. So we motor back to West Basin, tie up temporarily, I get block ice, more cat food, and some salmon steaks for dinner. We’re able to sail all the way back to Mott island for the night. A calm evening.

September 2

We get stuff stowed, fill up the main fuel tank, and sail with the tide. Right outside the breakwater we're able to unfurl the headsail and coast up to East Basin. Remember the Sea Lions from the beginning of the trip? There's more of them now, covering every part of the pier. They are big, they are loud, they are smelly. We pull in to the closest slip to the ramp, chasing three of them back into the water. Cindy stays with Squishy, and defends the pier from further invasions. I hike to Safeway to provision, we need ice. Unfortunately, this Safeway no longer carries block ice, so I have to get “party” ice, which doesn't keep as long. Back to the boat, we cast off and get out of there. Just past the breakwater we unfurl the headsail again, and cruise on up to the entrance to Tongue Point. I chuckle at the cute little wind waves. We then motor to our anchorage off of Mott Island. There are many “bowpicker” boats in here tonight, most anchored, but some gill-netting for salmon. We anchor and have dinner. I play guitar and we work out plans for the rest of the trip. We're not anxious to be home just yet.

September 1

We sleep 11 hours, then Mocha's for breakfast, and get going on the cleanup. Batteries charging, laundry going, get caught up on banking and business end of month. We wash a month's worth of salt off of everything. It's obvious we're not going to be done with all we have to do today, so we choose to spend another night. Slip fees here are about half what they are in Washington. Our deep locker has mold growing in it, so we haul everything out (including the boat batteries) and get it washed down and dried out. Haul off recycling (haven't been able to get rid of anything but paper since Friday Harbor). I walk up to the fish market for fresh albacore tuna for dinner (honey ginger glazed, with rice). I've resigned myself to that being the best way to fish on this boat. We get showers, they're free here.

We met another couple, on a bigger boat, who chose to go 60 miles off shore because they heard of better conditions. They were hit with 30kt winds and 20” seas, their wind vane steering broke, she was sea sick, so he ended up hand steering the whole trip. At one point he was making 8kts under staysail and reefed main. Put a tear in his main sail. Their cat was also not impressed. We were glad we'd chosen to stay closer in.

August 30-31

Sorry to leave you all hanging with us about to head down the coast.

It looks good again, so we try it again. Still some fog but much better and we keep going. Weather is predicted 5-10 knots from the North, perfect. Unfortunately, prediction did not match reality very well. We motor out as yesterday, still foggy in the straight and around Cape Flattery, but passable. Visibility improves after that. The ocean is a bit rougher than forecasted, with 6 foot seas from the northwest. Our boat tends to wallow in following seas without the sails up for stability. The promised north winds are not there. We set the auto pilot and start the watch rotation. Doug goes below to try to sleep. Eventually we give up on staying on the off-watch bunk, and put cushions on the cabin floor. Squishy is not impressed with this, either. At one point Cindy seas foam in the water, we must be passing some rocks that are churning in the waves. Yes, Destruction Island.

The wind starts to build about 6:30pm. We hoist the main, motor sail for a bit, then are able to turn off the engine and sail downwind until midnight. Then the wind quits. We keep the mainsail up and motor. About 2:00am the wind starts up from the west (beam reach), then clocks around to the northwest. We still have the full main up, making 5+ knots. We pass several fishing boats, one of which seems to be swerving back and forth in front of us. We alter course a few times, finally head well out to sea of him. Turns out he's got a huge searchlight on the front of his boat that he's been turning, probably trying to locate his crab floats. Ocean swells are coming from the west, interesting to look and see white foam off your beam and just above your head. About 4:30 we decide it's a bit much for us, so we drop sail and motor until daylight. Normally we would have put a reef in the mainsail, but that's not an easy job on this boat, even without the bouncy seas. We're now off of Gray's Harbor, but we've gotten to sail enough we don't need to refuel, and altering coarse would have been a rougher ride than we were already on. The weather forecast also doesn't indicate any improvement for tomorrow. We keep going.

At daylight we unfurl the headsail part way and kill the motor, and make great progress for another 5 hours. The wind dies down again (the seas don't) and we motor the rest of the way in. The wind did build back up as we rounded Cape Disappointment into the Columbia River, we could have sailed in the rest of the way (it probably would have been a smoother ride), but we were tired and chose to motor. The coast guard reported conditions that were better than we were getting on the ocean, so even though we were a little early for optimal crossing (slack tide before the flood), we forged on. About this time we get a phone call from Cindy's mom (who really didn't want to know where we were until after the dangerous part was over). What's the first thing she asks? “Where are you?” In the Pacific ocean for another hour, mom. We make plans to meet up with them for dinner in Astoria.

We had made better time than our estimates getting down the coast. We also arrived with 8 gallons of fuel in reserve. We tie up, get showers, and have an enjoyable dinner with Cindy's folks, her sister, and our niece. Then back to the boat to turn in. The cat is appreciating the boat being relatively level for a change.

August 29

Weather is questionable but we are anxious to get going and the forecast says things will improve. We stow the rest of the gear for ocean travel and hoist the dinghy to the foredeck. It was a bit of a dance getting the anchor up around the dink but then we motor out with a couple of miles of visibility. We discover the sideways motion of the boat, versus stern to bow rock, means we can't really see over the transom of the dink. Deflating wouldn't help nor be any use for an emergency evacuation if needed so we put her back in the water to tow.

Behind us the visibility is still good but ahead of us it is deteriorating. At Tattoosh Light it's less than 100 yards and winds from the South, (on the nose again). We listen to the weather again, it's changed, and decide tomorrow might be a better day and turn around. Good news, we unfurled the headsail and cruised back to Neah Bay.

I rowed to shore and enjoyed watching some native dancing and the start of the 8 man canoe races. Then got traditional salmon dinners to take back to the boat. Tomorrow we will try heading down the coast again.

August 27-28

Weather looks favorable for Saturday so we will be here waiting. We organized charts for the trip back down the coast. Restowed the boat from live aboard to ocean safety. I rowed to shore and walked to the Makah Museum for an enjoyable few hours. The hike to Cape Flattery is only ¾ of a mile, but that's from the trail head which is seven miles away. Scrap that. Back at the boat we pull anchor and go get fuel then tie up to get a few groceries and another Chanterelle Mushroom wood fired pizza. Yummy! Then back to the bay for the night.

We organize with the expectation of going South, including detailed timelines. Bottom line, if we can't sail at least part of the way we have to stop at Grays Harbor for fuel. Makah Days have started with youth canoe races around and through the anchorage which were fun to watch from the dryness of the boat. Fireworks at 10. Squishy was not amused.

August 26

Forecast still says variable winds to 10 knots from the East and not unfavorable currents,yes, that is the best you get heading West in the Straight, most of the way to Neah Bay. It's a 50 mile slog with not much in the way of places to “park” in between. We shower, get breakfast and head out. By 1:00PM the winds have picked up to where it might be worth raising the headsail, we gain about 1/2 knot and the ride smooths out. The waves in the Straight are interesting. We get long rollers from the West and occasional following waves from the East. One of them poops the dinghy. We get many gallons of water in it. It's now dragging us so we put the engine in neutral (still making 3 knots from the headsail) and I go pump out the dink. We snug the dink to the side of the boat so it is less likely to get pooped again. Another lesson. It's a long day already. The wind dies out, we roll in the headsail. The wind picks up, we roll it back out again. I make some adjustments to the autopilot to make it more efficient but didn't work so well. We get into Neah Bay, just as the wind picks up...only for a few hours. There's a Coast Guard buoy tender anchored out and a dozen other boats, appearing to be waiting for the same advertised weather window down the coast. (Now you know why we couldn't post until back in Astoria, don't want the mom's to worry about us.)

We saw several canoes paddling (very fast) in the bay,. One with 8 paddlers. Interesting. Since it looks like we might be here a few days, I check on-line for activities. The Makah Nation has a museum with many artifacts from the Ozette archaeological site on Cape Alava . My boy scout troop did several hikes out to Cape Alava and on one of them we got a tour of the Ozette dig, a native village that had been covered by a mud slide about 500 years ago and later uncovered by ocean erosion. There is a hike out to Cape Flattery and the Makah Days start on Friday. We'll see how long we stay. Just depends on the weather.

August 25

Clear morning, no fog. Forecast calls for wind from the west with favorable currents to cross the Straight so we set off. Past Cattle Point we have some wind so we sail, making 2-3 knots for about ½ hour. We motor with sails up until the wind shifts, now from the SW. Wind waves have built so it's a little choppy. We got into Port Angeles just before the marina office closes, get signed in and fuel. On leaving the fuel dock the shear pin on the outboard failed again. Really strange because we haven't hit anything except seaweed. There is enough wind to push the boat so we guide it over to the guest tie up. The repair only took 10 minutes this time but we did use our last shear pin. The “local” Honda shop is 4 miles away and closed. Sunset hardware is close but closes in 10 minutes. I run down there (in deck shoes and salt crusted trousers). They have stainless steel stock of the right diameter and a hack saw to cut it with. Back at the boat, I make dinner while Cindy cuts a couple of spare pins. All this because we want to sail the Straight tomorrow and need to leave at 8AM or we won't have the right winds and currents and we won't go with out spare parts....

August 24

A beautiful but cold morning, like fall has arrived already. We get the cocoa water started and head out to catch favorable currents. No wind, and low clouds and fog after we get out of the harbor. We head south down the east shore of San Juan Island (or past the west shores of Orcas, Shaw, and Lopez islands, your choice), and drop anchor in Griffin Bay to wait out the fog and have lunch. It doesn't clear very fast, so we decide to stay the night. The weather eventually did improve to sunny, but the clouds and fog over the south end of San Juan Channel never lifted. Seals slap in the water at each other, still not close enough to get a good picture, but fun to watch and hear. I row over to shore to the state park, am able to drift in to a pair of red billed black oyster catchers. A nice hike on the beach with tide pools, along a gravel road (couple of handfuls of blackberries), up a grassy hill with views of the (still) cloud covered straights of Juan de Fuca, down through a lush forest of hemlock and cedar, and through a salt marsh back to the dinghy. On the row back to the boat a large bird flies over to check me out, too late I realize it's a bald eagle and I can't get the camera out in time. Beautiful bird. We spend the rest of the afternoon catching up on things, Squishy joins us in the cockpit several times. The seals are okay, but she doesn't like the seagulls.